Famille Perrin

A serious charmer, cherry red in colour with a rich, enticing nose of spices and ripe fruit. The concentrated red berry flavours are balanced by notes of cherry, blackberry and spices with just enough structure and pleasing length.

Serve this attractive red from the prestigious Perrin stable at a comfortable room temperature for effortless pleasure, with or without a special meal in mind.

This 2017 vintage will be remembered as the year of all records: the driest year in thirty years and non-interventionist vineyard work before optimal harvest conditions and a very small yield.

Though this is a wine for immediate enjoyment, it can certainly age for a while if necessary.

Full-bodied and expressive, with silky-sweet blackcurrant, pepper, liquorice and thyme flavours.

1. What the critics say ...
Jancis Robinson MW: "Lively crimson. Extremely sweet, candified nose. The Pomerol of the southern Rhône? Clean palate scrub on the end. Real energy."

Wine Advocate: "Cairanne tends to produce cool climate, earthy wines with a lot of pepper and spice notes, and, in this case, notions of raspberries and sweet, dusty cherries. There is a nice interaction between sweet and sour cherries in this medium to full-bodied, cool climate styled wine."

2. CAIRANNE was one of the first Côtes-du-Rhône villages to be singled out and allowed to use its name on labels. Its 848 hectares make it the largest of the named villages. Most reds from this southern part of the Rhône Valley are made from the same raw materials: grenache, syrah and mourvèdre with maybe a little cinsault, carignan or counoise.

Located just 8km from Chateauneuf du Pape, the appellation of Gigondas is geographically very diverse and benefits from cool air from the Dentelles de Montmirail.

Grenache reigns supreme here, especially on the sandy soils that give its unique elegance and aromas of cherries, chocolate and blackberries. The wine is complemented by Syrah that brings spice, violet and smoky flavours to the blend.

‘…the 2015 Gigondas La Gille (80/20 Grenache and Syrah) offers classic Gigondas character in its framboise, ripe cherries, spice and floral aromas and flavors. It’s medium to full-bodied, has a light, elegant texture and is beautifully balanced, and it’s going to keep for 7-8 years.’91/100
Jeb Dunnuck - 19/10/2017

The power and body of the Rhône but with a higher register too, of spice and floral notes. The palate is fresh, with herbal and cocoa-tinged flavours alongside its vigorous black fruits. This is a relatively racy incarnation of Vinsobres, but it's a serious contender nonetheless when it comes to rich, savoury meals that demand something substantial in the wine department.

Vinsobres is the most northern appellation of the southern Rhône, so it is well suited to Syrah. In ‘Les Cornuds’, the Perrins use the maximum allowable percentage of Syrah, given that appellation laws stipulate Vinsobres must be at least 50% Grenache.

‘One of two releases from Vinsobres, which is located in the northern, cooler part of the Southern Rhône Valley. From higher elevation and cooler sites, the 2015 Vinsobres Les Cornuds is a 50/50 split of Grenache and Syrah. It should end up being an outstanding wine and offers lots of black fruits, pepper and garrigue in a full-bodied, seriously textured and layered style.’
89-91/100The Wine Advocate

‘From a vineyard at the northern edge of the southern Rhône, this evokes cooler climates in its lean, peppery red fruit. And yet the wine feels substantial, a firm minerality lending it breadth and length. Pair it with juicy, rare steak.’
90/100Wine & Spirits 01/02/2017

This is a fresh and delicious Provençal white, made from a blend of grapes. It's a perfect and versatile food wine, with citrus aromas and clean attack. Ten per cent of the fruit is fermented in new French oak to add an extra dimension of suppleness and depth to the overall appeal of the finished wine.

There's an attractive concentration to the fruit flavours, especially pronounced in drier vintages that reduce yields but intensify fruit characteristics.

Though the pale rosés of Provence are well known, the whites of the Luberon are less familiar outside their own region but just as well suited to relaxed living and eating. They are especially good partners for full-flavoured fish and seafood dishes.

Aromatic and generous with plush aromas of blackberry, chocolate and fig, with a ripe-tannined, full-bodied palate of liquorice, violets and pink peppercorn.

Drink it if you have the chance with venison, fillet steak, or barbeques, good-quality sausages and root vegetables.

‘Dark crimson. Spicy, leathery nose. Big and bold and full of life.’
Jancis Robinson MW

‘The opulent, voluptuously textured, dense, rich 2010 Vacqueyras Cristins (reveals) lots of Provencal herbs as well as blackberry and black cherry liqueur notes in its full-bodied, intense, luscious personality. This impressive Vacqueyras should drink well for 10-12 years.’
Wine Advocate

Vacqueyras is a Southern Rhône appellation for red, white and rosé wines. Until 1990, it was one of the Côtes du Rhône villages, before the consistent performance of its red wines earned it a promotion.

The reds must contain 50% classic southern Rhône variety Grenache. The remainder of the blend is made up of Syrah and Mourvedre, with an additional 10% of any of the other Côtes du Rhône varieties (except Carignan).

In terms of climate, the area is Mediterranean (the sea is just 80km away) and is therefore blessed with a long, hot, dry growing season, ensuring maximum ripeness for its grapes. This, combined with a generally south-westerly aspect, results in unusually big and powerful wines.

‘The young vines from Beaucastel contribute fruit to this bottling, but the 2017 Châteauneuf du Pape les Sinards deserves to stand on its own. It’s a complex, floral, seductive blend of roses, raspberries, cherries and blueberries. Fullbodied and lush, it should be consumed over the next decade or so.’
92–94/100 Robert Parker, Wine Advocate 31st October, 2018

The grapes for this wine are partly flash-heated, as with Beaucastel, and partly vinified in the traditional way after destemming. The wine is aged in foudres for a year, and bottled after fining and light filtration.

This wine has intense honeyed aromas with mint and orange blossom overtones. The taste is ripe and rich with a sweet, long, clean finish.
Serve it chilled with foie gras; after dinner enjoy it on its own, or with (non-chocolate) desserts or fresh fruit.

Beaumes-de-Venise is a Rhône appellation (estd. 1945) for sweet white wines, located just south of Gigondas.
Its best vineyards face S/SE on slopes of the jagged Dentelles de Montmirail mountains and benefit from great light exposure, which encourages maximum ripeness in the grapes.

The wines made under the AOC Muscat de Beaumes-de-Venise appellation are created through the traditional process of arrested fermentation, to produce what is known in French as a vin doux naturel (naturally sweet wine). This technique is based around the addition of grape spirit to the semi-fermented grape must, killing the yeasts and thus ending fermentation. The result is a sweet, high-alcohol wine.

Beaumes-de-Venise is also home to two other appellations: Beaumes-de-Venise (estd. 2005, for red wines) and Côtes du Rhône Villages Beaumes-de-Venise (for white and rosé).

‘Pineapple and white-grapefruit flavors are spiced by toast, cinnamon and smoked nut in this ample, open-knit white. A lavish, mouthwatering blend of Clairette, Grenache Blanc and Roussanne, it balances pristine fruit and delicate oak tones well. Best enjoyed now–2024’
91/100, Wine Enthusiast, 2020

‘Les Sinards comes from a 2.5- acre vineyard near Château de Beaucastel, the Perrin brothers' estate. In the dry, warm 2017 vintage, it grew a buttery, rich white, yet it's not at all sweet. Rather, the flavors focus on toasted almonds and lees, hay and herbs,with the scent of warm rocks on a hot day. A high percentage of clairette gives it zest, as well as the backbone to age well over the next decade.’
94/100 Wine Advocate, 2019

Intense cigar box and violet aromas with mineral hints introduce a pure and powerful wine, vibrant with berry fruit and soft liquorice flavours. The silky tannins are not intrusive, making this complex wine from a cool microclimate and a complicated vintage a very elegant Gigondas, ideal for keeping but already magnificent.

This domaine was the site of the very first building outside the ramparts of Gigondas, and the current structure dates from the seventeenth century, its turrets giving the plot its name.

The nine hectare vineyards are planted chiefly with Grenache, the remaining twenty per cent given to plantings of Syrah, Cinsault and Mourvèdre.

Concentration and generous fruit in equal measure are hallmarks of the Perrin style, and this rich white wine delivers both in a lees-aged blend of Bourboulenc, Clairette and Grenache blanc.

The pale gold colour and delicate aromas of beeswax, pears and apricots introduce a silky, full-flavoured wine with peach and lime character, plenty of weight in the mouth and a long, clean finish.

"Our selection parcellaire, ‘Les Hauts de Julien’ 2013, was harvested on 18 and 19 October with beautiful mature Grenache and Syrah. The end of the alcoholic fermentations is carried out in new oak casks. The nose is very complex, with notes of black fruit, cocoa, toast and spices. This wine is concentrated, dark, and has rich tannins with great length and a persistent finish.

The vintage started with a long winter and one of the driest ones in the past years followed by an inexistent Spring. The crop development was very slow due to important climatic variations. The winemakers’ work was therefore crucial to get good quality grapes in small quantities. 2013 was a complicated vintage, and late – but is wonderfully balanced and very promising."

92/100 Wine Advocate, Jeb Dunnuck - 01/10/2015 A big step up over the Les Cornuds, the 2013 Côtes du Rhône Villages Vinsobres les Hauts de Julien is a parcel selection of Syrah and Grenache from the cooler, windy Vinsobres region located in the northern part of the southern Rhône. Inky colored and mostly opaque, it reveals gorgeous, northern Rhône-like characteristics of black and blue fruits, pepper, violets and underbrush. Medium to full-bodied, elegant and seamless, with building tannin and a great finish, it can be enjoyed today, but will benefit from short term cellaring and have a decade or more of longevity.